Thursday, January 3, 2013

Deus Ex & the Pacifist Run

Many role playing games for computers and consoles have introduced
a “morality system” that allows you to cast your character as a
hero or villain, depending on your temperament at the time. In the early
days the distinctions were pretty simple. For example, a little old lady only
has half the money she needs for rent and the tyrannical landlord is coming
soon. Do you:

Pay the second half of her rent? Hero!

Stab her and take what little money she has? Villain!

As games got more morally complex, the answers did not always
seem obvious. For example, if you kill the landlord and turn the deed
over to the little old lady, are you a cold blooded murder? Or did you
save the woman from eviction?

If you provide the rent money to the woman, then swindle all
of the rent money plus the deed from the landlord, are you a thief?
Maybe, but at least this time you didn’t kill anyone.

In recent years the morality systems presented in games by
companies like BioWare and Obsidian have been less black and white, focusing on
the differences between a subtle approach (paragon, open palm, light side of the Force, etc) and a direct approach (renegade, closed fist, dark side of the Force, etc). Okay, the differences between the approaches in the Knights
of the Old Republic games can be argued. But
even in systems like these it is possible to play a character categorized as an
honorable person who looks for peaceful solutions, but ultimately leaves a
trail of bodies in his or her digital wake. What is a peace-minded gamer
yogi to do?

There is a growing group of gamers who look for “pacifist
runs”, games where it is possible to play in such a way that you never
kill a single enemy. One such game is Deus Ex: The Human Revolution, a near-future
prequel to the excellent cyberpunk influenced Deus Ex from 2000. DX:HR
has lots of interesting points to consider (and I am only 1/4 of the way
through so far) but let’s just stick to it’s potential for
pacifism.

For a game where you play a bionic super-soldier with
enhancements that allow you to carry huge machine guns and stab people with
arm-knives, there is a lot of flexibility to how you navigate the story.
Most of the game’s challenges can be overcome by combat, stealth,
hacking, influence, or some combination thereof. From a combat
standpoint, in addition to the assault rifles and rocket launchers you also
have access to a number of non-lethal weaponry, like tranquilizer darts, stun
guns, concussion grenades, etc. You also have the ability to sneak up
behind opponents and knock them unconscious. Sound peaceful?

One of these moves, by my count, would cause a broken arm,
dislocated shoulder, possibly destroy an eye, and finally cause a massive
concussion along with a broken nose and many lost teeth. But hey, the bad
guy still lives, right?